Is it a real Fender Jazz Bass?

[Dark Horse]

It's a fake.

Mid 90's foto flame body with aftermarket neck. Logo is off, but more importantly, notice the transition from the back of the neck to the headstock ... that's how basses like SX (and other Chinese made ones) transition, not how Fenders do.

Check the underside of the headstock carefully for tooling marks.

Also note the bridge, with the front lip screws. Another Chinese/SX giveaway.

 

[JaydeePlayer]

I might be wrong about all these as my experience of Mexican and other modern variants is very limited.

The tuning keys and posts are chrome. Shouldn't they be nickel plated?
The pickup covers have a surface in the moulding, Fender pickup covers are smooth
The writing on the neck plate doesn't look Fender, looks roughly lasered and it should be at an angle
I don't recognise the headstock transfer pattern at all, no 'comfort contour' etc
The bridge has two screws on the neck side, only seen that in copies before
Aren't block necks bound?
That mahogany colour on the back of the body just looks wrong!

To me its not original but, as I say, I'm not up to date.

 

[coreyfyfe]

I vote fake, but cool.
Serial number, decal, tuners, neckplate, inlays, skunk stripe, body joints all look off for a 2001 Fender MIA model.

Ditto. The lower horn, especially in the picture from the back looks off to me, like oddly shaped. Also in the back picture, is the neck slightly off-angle? It looks like the skunk stripe goes slightly diagonal from the body, like 85 degrees instead of 90. It could just be the picture angle, but it doesn't look right to me.

The bridge has two screws on the neck side, only seen that in copies before
Aren't block necks bound?

I hadn't noticed the extra bridge screws, good eyes guys. Not all block necks are bound, some of the newer ones (ie Jaguar and 60th AV jazz) are not, but neither of those were made in 2001. I think there were the the American Deluxe FMT series available in 2001, but certainly not with any of these features and they were bound/blocked.

 

[Dakwota]

I rkn it's fake looking mate, weird inlays and headstock imo

 

[Shadi]

Almost every aspect of this bass is fake. The cut of the back of the headstock is off, the neck plate is wrong, the inlays are very shoddy looking, the bridge is wrong, bridge pickup placement is way off, tuners are incorrect, and the body shape is off. Run while you can.

 

[coronado3]

String tree doesn't look fender either...

 

[morehorn]

fake --- headstock proportions are weird. tuners, i don't think are correct for an MIA (and who would downgrade to the MIM/Squier ones). weird blocks. flame over ash/alder? haven't seen that since fotoflame which was MIJ. lots of stuff not lining up. how's it sound/play?

 

[wakena2003]

The owner want to change it for a fretless washburn that I own plus 400 bucks. But now I prefer to buy a new CIJ Marcus Miller, and save the fretless.

 

[jmercer91]

The bridge does not look stock either!!!

those two extra holes scream gotoh 201. or 203 i don't remember.

 

[Flaked Beans]

Fake! That's Fake, FAKE Fender jazz bass!

 

[thwump64]

Ima call fake on this one.

 

[musicbikeman]

Yeah dude, definitely fake. Shouldn't the inlay on the neck match the pickguard? But it looks pretty cool, even if it is kinda janky. Maybe you can call him out on it and ask him if he would take 200 bucks... Or just straight up trade for the Washburn. That would be fair. Janky Jazz bass for a Wash... Ha.

 

[Blues Bass Man]

The owner want to change it for a fretless washburn that I own plus 400 bucks. But now I prefer to buy a new CIJ Marcus Miller, and save the fretless.

Yeah I bet he does. Turn around and walk away from that deal.

 

[s_mcsleazy]

how much is he asking for

cos if its a fake under £200 id take it

 

[lostrings]

Another thing no one else mentioned is the texture of the pickup covers...SX all the way....

 

[savit260]

But, what I can`t figure is - why would someone go through all that trouble and work to fake a newer Fender ? .

Why? Because that particuar bass is probably worth about $100-$200 (probably being optimistic here, possibaly less) being sold for what it actually is.

What does a used MIA Jazz go for? Quite a bit more. Particularly a "Custom Classic" as someone thought it might be.

The reason for trying to pull a fast one is obvious.

No one is going to believe a flame top cherry sunburst Jazz is Pre CBS, so why not fake a newer model?

Thin here is the seller has been caught.

I think this fake would be good enough to blow by someone who is a casual Fender fan, but not going to get by the TB experts.

 

[Cage Da Juice]

well if it sounds like a fender get it. But the inlays looked messed up!

 

[bigntasty]

Looks like a fake from that Chinese company that does fake everythings (sorry - the name escapes me but they've been discussed here on TB). Not even worth $200, IMO.

 

[Slax]

I think it looks more like a modded SX than it does a MIA Fender Jazz...

 

[mmjazzbass]

The headstock logo. I did't found the same Jazz Bass headstock in the web.

Pre-1970 J-basses have a slightly different logo on the headstock than the newer models, if that's what you might be referring to.